Deputy pleads guilty in prostitution case

San Diego  A sheriff’s deputy who was caught in a San Diego police prostitution sting in January has pleaded guilty to a lesser offense and been put on probation, attorneys said Tuesday.

Deputy Stuart Rea, who was a pilot in the sheriff’s helicopter unit, remains employed and has an administrative assignment, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said.

Rea was arrested Jan. 23 at a San Diego hotel where police were conducting an undercover prostitution sting. He was charged by the City Attorney’s Office with a misdemeanor count of soliciting a prostitute.

On June 4, Rea pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace, his lawyer, James M.V. Fitzpatrick said.

Rea paid a standard fine of $550 and showed the court proof that he had attended a Prostitution Impact Panel course and an HIV/AIDS education course, said Gina Coburn, spokeswoman for the City Attorney’s Office.

Coburn said it is standard for a judge to accept a lesser plea of disturbing the peace after a first-time offender has attended court-ordered classes.

The deputy was placed on three years of probation but does not have to report to a probation officer, Fitzpatrick said.

Caldwell said an internal affairs investigation into Rea’s behavior has been launched now that the court case has concluded.